This book looks really swell! There are probably no one left in the world who hasn't heard about IKEA with its affordable build-it-your-self-furniture concept. Ingvar Kamprad, the man behind IKEA was only seventeen when started his soon to be blooming enterprise in 1943. Ten years later he opened his first IKEA store in Sweden. Today there are over 200 stores worldwide and as much as I love IKEA I also think it's too ubiquitous and consumer driven. People throw away their furniture to buy new every two years because it's so inexpensive, not stopping for two minutes reflecting on the design and functionality.

The book is titled "IKEA Design och Identitet" and can be bought from Adlibris if you live in Sweden. Which is your favorite IKEA piece?

IKEA's catalogs are like a photo book of the Swedish home. Here contemporary living is reflected from the 1970s brown corduroy couches and painted pine kitchen tables to todays modern design of the PS-collection of top international class. It's retro, nostalgia, present and future vision, all at once. But what lies behind such a strong concept that allowed them furnish almost every Swedish home for decades?

Short funky Swedish documentary about the development of the state-of-the-art Royal Swedish Air force jet fighter "Draken". Built and developed by Swedish car maker Saab in the early 1950s, this video takes us on a brief journey on how the plane was developed and tested before its maiden flight in 1955. Also pay attention to the thick and rather silly Swedish accents that makes this video even more kitschy. Good times indeed! (Via)

Gröna Lund in Stockholm is one of a handful amusement parks in Sweden. It might not be the biggest one, but it is certainly the oldest. Built in 1883, on the seashore overlooking the masses of water that divides Stockholm into something that sometimes is referred to as the Swedish version of Venice. Over exaggerated perhaps, but there is some truth in the claim. I my self have visited the amusement park a couple of times when I was younger, but strangely never when I lived in Stockholm. Isn't it funny how you miss out on certain things when you have them so close by?

The park has changed little over the years, seeing it doesn't have any land to expand on. The rides and various buildings have obviously been updated and changed, but the 19th Century look and feeling still overlooks the park. Gröna Lund does not only offer fun rides, but also restaurants and stages for performing. Musical celebrities such as Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Paul Anka and ABBA have all graced the park over the years. Here are a bunch of historical photographs that depicts the overall look and feel of Gröna Lund in the 1950s and 1960s. Which type of amusement ride is your favorite?

I lived in Stockholm for two years but I totally missed out on this cafe! Cafe Valand was opened in 1954 by Magdalena and her husband Stellan Åström whom also designed it. The cafe is located in the cute and lively area Vasastaden in Stockholm where it has sat frozen in time with its stylish wooden walls, signs, machines and tables for over five decades and is still owned and operated by Magdalena and Stellan. I highly suggest you give the place a personal visit on your next trip to Stockholm and enjoy this time piece which hopefully will stand for another 50 years.

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Don't know what to spend that extra cash on? Don't worry, there is still time. Our stores are open at convenient times and located just around the corner here in Yester Sweden. Today we are traveling back in time to visit Stockholm and Hudiksvall (north of Stockholm) where you can slowly waltz through the many isles of exotic groceries, the latest fashion, brand new color TV models and still have some time left over for a coffee and cupcake at one of the many cafes. Typical anchor stores of the time were ICA, Domus and Tempo – sadly only the first one is still alive. For more shopping goodness, check out the other parts of this ongoing series of retro retail mania. More photos can be found after the jump.

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Moving back to Sweden again for a while and more specifically to the Swedish automotive industry. For those who aren't in the know, Sweden has two major brands; Volvo and Saab. Today we are going back to the mid 1950s to look at how the advertisements for model 121 also known as the Amazon were portrayed in the country that brought you all ABBA, IKEA and Maud Adams. The Amazon first saw light in 1956 and remained in production to 1970. And according to Phil Seed's Virtual Car Musum they are "seemingly indestructible". More photos and tv commerials after the jump. [Thanks Fhardyfan]

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I found some more photos of my favorite shopping mall in southern Sweden - Väla Centrum. It was built in 1974 outside of Helsingborg and took its inspiration from American shopping malls at the time - meaning that it didn't look very Scandinavian or traditional, which I really love. It even had a birdcage with live canaries up until the mid 1980s. For more information and photos of the shopping center, see my earlier post about it.

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Here are a bunch of old postcards depicting normal everyday life street scenes in Sweden in the 1960s. Progress has taken its toll on all of these places and I very much doubt they look like this today. Although, I do love the colors and how everything looked so casually organized and clean back then.

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